Review: Jaguar Love - Take Me To The Sea

Posted on 25 September 2008 | No Comments

Filed Under: Album Reviews, Indie Rock, Noise, Post Rock

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Jaguar Love is the first true post-Blood Brothers project that’s made it past adolescence. Featuring vocalist Johnny Whitney and guitarist Cody Votolato (both former Blood Brothers) and Jay Clark (formerly of Pretty Girls Make Graves), Jaguar Love’s debut Take Me To The Sea has been (at least for me) damn hotly anticipated. So what do you get here? Well, it really depends on what you are looking for. If you are looking for a rehash of The Blood Brothers, you’ll be a little disappointed despite the numerous similarities. In short, what you get with from Take Me To The Sea is some shriekingly rhythmic and bouncy art-core that is swimmingly abrasive but dually melodic as well. It is (however) virtually impossible to separate Jaguar Love from The Blood Brothers so I won’t even begin that futility.

There will be comparisons because Take Me To The Sea plays like a like a less caustic, more tuneful, and less rabidly frantic version of what the The Blood Brothers were doing, but still Mainly because Johnny Whitney’s raw howling falsetto still sits front and center, and that’s a good thing. Closer to Barry Gibb than Jacob Bannon this time around, Whitney sounds devilishly day-glo fluorescent. He’s backed by some playfully buoyant post-punk that’s as face-meltingly melodic as it can be. Your parents (and wives for that matter) will most likely hate this album based solely on the vocals but (really) for all their creeping and grinding Jaguar Love’s spasms are generally danceable and generally likeable as weird as that seems. I guess you gotta love you some Jaguar Love.

MP3 | Jaguar Love – Highways Of Gold Take Me To The Sea
MP3 | Jaguar Love – Bats Over The Pacific Ocean Take Me To The Sea